dickbraswell

Word for Today:  November 16

The Church is “Jesus on earth” today.

It is His Body and if the world is ever changed, it will be changed by the Church.

When Revival comes, it will come by and through the Church.

When the Will of God is done, it will be done by the Church.

When the Word of God is released into the earth it will be released by the Church.  And when this happens, the Kingdom of God is manifested.

When YOU use your faith to release the Revelation of the Word that is in you, you cause the Kingdom of God to appear at that very place.  At that very time.   For that specific purpose.

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  Mt 16: 18

Jesus prayed for the Kingdom of God to come and for God’s will to be done on earth.  (Mt 6:10)

You can be the answer to His prayer today

Word for Today:  November 14

A famous golf professional recently played two holes of golf in a televised tournament and won more prize money in less than 30 minutes than we have be able to spend on missions in the last five years.

The world really does not need fancy, exotic automobiles, vacation homes, obscene wealth or athletic superstars, but it desperately needs Jesus.

If people were as glad to hear the Word and as determined to hear the Word as the Christians of the First Century, preachers would be working overtime, three shifts a day seven days a week.

As it is, we have difficulty filling the church building once or twice a year, and then only when we have something really entertaining.  What does that say about the church today?

• Where else can you get what you get at church?
• Who else can give you what God gives you at church?
• How can you say that church is not important when the greatest manifestations of God’s Power and Presence are revealed in the Assembly of the Saints?

How can we expect to stay spiritually strong and ignore the importance of the preached and taught Word that “happens” in the church?  When we are more excited about going to the movies, or to a ball game or entertaining ourselves, how can we expect to maintain our power over devils and demons and hell?

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.   Heb 10:25

Let’s get real

Word for Today:  November 13

The Church is the Will of God on earth.

Jesus taught us to pray for God’s will to be done in earth just as it is done in heaven.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Mt 6:10

How is the Will of God to be done in earth?

It is to be done by and through the Church.

The Church is the way God’s Will is done on earth.

What is the Will of God?  The Will of God is the Word of God.  The Church is the means of bringing the Word of God into the earth.   The Kingdom of God will come in the earth by the Word of God… the Word of God which is declared and proclaimed by the Church.

• The Church has a mission.
• The Church has a mandate.
• The Church has a commission.
• The Church has an obligation.

We are to preach the Gospel (the Word, and ALL of it) to all nations and teach them about God, Jesus, the Holy Ghost, Heaven, hell and the Church.

We are to Baptize them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

The Will of God is the Church functioning and operating in the fullest power of the Holy Ghost.  And as it does, the Will of God will be done in the earth….

Just as it is in Heaven.

Word for Today:  November 11

The Church is important.

The Church is vital.

The Church is the world’s only hope.

God will use the Church to change the world.  I know this is possible because ONE CHURCH did change the world.  Forever and forever the course of human history was changed because of the influence and ministry of this One Church.

What God has done in the past He is certainly able and capable of doing today.

• God is the same.
• The Holy Ghost is the same.
• Jesus is the same.
• The Word is the same.

What the Church did in the past is proof that the church can do it today.  The Church of the Living God is the most POWERFUL FORCE on this planet.  Nothing and nobody can equal its power and its authority.

The Church is people.  It is not buildings of brick and mortar… it is not denominations and doctrines…. it is not man-made nor man-managed… It is not great architecture and beautiful services… It is more than structures on street corners.  It is People.  People are individuals… Individuals like you and like me.  Us.  We who have been Born Again and Birthed into the Kingdom of the Most High God.  We are the Church.  You are the Church.   The Church is present here today.   And anything that has ever happened “in the church” or “to the church” at any time in the past can and could happen today.   Why should we expect the Church to be anything less than what it is in Acts?

How can we be satisfied with what it is today if it is not what it was during its birth and early history?

It should do what it did.

It can do what it did.

It must do what it did.

It WILL do what it did

Word for Today:  November 10

There is a real temptation to preach what people want to hear.

The trend is to be popular.  To be liked.  To be respected and accepted.  To fit into a certain “camp.”  To be known for relating to a specific group.  To be “balanced” and non-offensive.

Then we look at personalities such as John the Baptist.  Like Elijah.  Like Jeremiah.  Like Noah.  Like many of the men and women in the Bible who considered it more important to be friends with God than to be popular with men.

I really do want you to like me, but it is more important to speak the Truth than to be popular.

It would be so easy to slip into the painless, cheap, costless and convenient niche.  To fit into the mold of bland, tasteless and ambiguous preaching…  This might satisfy for the moment, but it would be disastrous in the future.

Preachers….we need to preach Truth.  No matter who it may offend, alienate or infuriate.

The approval of God matters more than the applause of men

Word for Today:  November 8

When Jesus came to earth, God stepped out of Eternity into the dimension of Time.

This was a Divine Convergence.  Today God is once again stepping out of Eternity into Time.  We must seize it.  We must embrace it.  We must take it.    God is Here.

There is a definite Work being done in our Nation.  There is a definite work being done in the Church.  We are  in transition.  We are not what we were and we are not yet what we are going to be.  We are in transformation.  Things are changing.  God is doing stuff.   And it is good.  Sometimes it may be painful, but it is good and it is necessary.

There is a Purification taking place.  Conviction is falling and God is peeling off the layers and exposing the innermost secrets of the heart.  We are discovering that what we call “church” may not really be Church.  What we have established in the past and practiced over the years may be miles away from what God expects and what God wants.

God is coming to the Church before He comes for the Church.  His coming to the Church is quite upsetting.  He does not always allow   what we allow.  His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts…   (Isa 55:9)

He wants to bring us Up to Him.  We have attempted to bring Him down to us.  We must be willing to change.  To adjust.  To be tuned up.  To be refined.  To be tempered.

A Spiritual Renaissance is coming

Word for Today:  November 7

God’s heart has never changed.

His heart has always been inclined toward man.  It is now and it always has been.  Man was originally created in order that God might have a family.  God wanted companionship.  God wanted fellowship.  God wanted relationship.  God wants to love and He wants to be loved.    God wanted to have a family to love and to bless and to keep unto Himself.

This is the Heart of God.

God wants to have children that will reciprocate His love.  God is Love, God loves and God wants to be loved.  Do you realize that God made the heavens solely for the benefit of earth? Do you know that God made the earth solely for the benefit of man?  Can you believe that God created all animal life and plant life solely for the benefit of man?  All the measurless natural resources on earth, under the earth and around the earth were specifically planned and created by God for you and me.  Everything and all things that God created by His power, were and are created for the benefit of man.

And God made man for Himself.

All of creation is designed to sustain human life.  Scientists are now beginning to recognize that the entire universe has been created and calibrated to support and sustain human life right here on earth.   The original Plan God had is still the same.   Even though satan entered and Adam sinned and death was brought into the earth, God has Eternally Purposed for Man to be His Own.

You belong

Word for Today:  November 6

Checkers

Even though our Christianity is not a game, some of the same rules tend to apply.

For Example, our spiritual growth is kind of like playing checkers.  Remember, the object is to get yourself to the King Line and get a crown. You take your turn.  And you get there one square at a time.  But it had better be The Right Square.  The wrong square will get you jumped, captured, defeated, taken off the board and put into the enemy’s hand.

Once you get “crowned” you have more mobility.  You have more authority.  More power.  More effectiveness.  More freedom.  More opportunities.  But you still must move with wisdom.  Even a king in the game of checkers can be jumped if he is careless.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 1Pe 5:8

Be sure you make the Right Move today

Word for Today:  November 5

And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.  Mk 11:18

They did not like Him.

• They did not like what He did. He messed up their Theology.
• He cleansed the Temple. He reestablished its purpose.
• He drove out the hypocrites and the game players in church.
• They did not like what He said. He told them to do stuff they did not want to do.  He pointed out their sin and their hypocrisy.
• They did not like the way He talked and what He called them. (Thieves, Hypocrites, Serpents, Vipers, Dead Men’s Bones, Whited Sepulchers, Unclean, Full of Iniquity.)
• They were afraid of Him because He was drawing bigger crowds than they were. (Because when Jesus spoke, things happened.)  Their message was dead, dry and useless.
• They had form but no fire.
• They had the Letter but no Life.
• When they preached, nothing happened.

The sick stayed sick.

The lost stayed lost.

The afflicted stayed afflicted.

The oppressed stayed oppressed.

The poor stayed poor.

The sad stayed sad.

My greatest concern is that nothing will happen in church on Sunday.  However, my greatest assurance is that the Gospel we preach is the Power of God unto Deliverance and that the Word we preach will not return void but will accomplish that which pleases God…  It will.

Just you wait and see